Social Media as The Godfather

The Social News Watch blog makes an interesting analogue of the Don Corleone family to illustrate the pecking order of the top-level social media websites.

Snippet:

The Godfather showed us a world of beauty and corruption.  Alliances were made and broken.  Those who were good to the family were rewarded, while anyone who stepped in the way was hit.

Social media works in much the same way.  It can be beautiful, offering the best of the web compiled into loosely organized areas where masses of people can flood a worthy website and enjoy its offerings.  It can be corrupt, as spammers use the power of social media to drive traffic to unworthy websites.